


The Heir's Shadow

by ScarletxNight



Category: GOT7, JJ Project
Genre: Bodyguard, Cute Choi Youngjae, Dysfunctional Family, Family Drama, Family Issues, Gen, Heir, Jinyoung as the new head, The Heir's shadow, evil mother?, jaebeom as bodyguard, jinyoung as heir, mark tuan as heir, smart Choi Youngjae
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25281514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletxNight/pseuds/ScarletxNight
Summary: #PickAndChoose has inspired me enough to bring you all a little piece of mine. We had to choose up to 2 prompts from different categories. In order to show, which I chose, I used a different font for those.Pɪᴄᴋᴇᴅ Pʟᴏᴛ:A ʟᴏɴɢ-ʟᴏsᴛ ғᴀᴍɪʟʏ ᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ᴛᴜʀɴs ᴜᴘ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪᴅᴅʟᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛ. Iᴛ's ᴀ sᴛᴏʀʏ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴀɴ ᴀᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇ.
Relationships: Im Jaebum | JB & Mark Tuan, Im Jaebum | JB & Park Jinyoung
Kudos: 6





	The Heir's Shadow

Hᴇ ᴡᴀs ɢᴏɪɴɢ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ᴀ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ, ʜᴇ'ᴅ ʜᴏᴘᴇᴅ ʜᴇ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ sᴇᴇ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ, but here he was: two hours before midnight, in front of the wide gates of the house he grew up in. Or mansion, to be more descriptive. Even in the dark, it was brightly lit and immense in size and width.

Park Jinyoung was just 24, when he returned home on the night of his birthday after being away for exactly four years. On the top of the stairs stood three women, waiting patiently as he made his way towards them. They were alone, where Jinyoung expected a horde of security and bodyguards, that would grab him as soon as he stepped one foot on the premise.

"No, they knew I would come back today without fighting back. We made a deal and I always keep my word."

It was his eldest sister, Sooyoung, who stepped down, when he stopped at the foot of the stairs, and nearly threw herself at him, enveloping him in a tight hug. She whispered into his ear, sighing in relief: "I missed you so much, little brother. Thank you for coming back." Jinyoung swallowed any bitter words down, not wanting to destroy everything, before he had even been inside the house yet.

"As if I had another chance. As if I had any choice in this."

He held the words back, lips shut tight.

His other elder sister, raised one hand timidly, waving at him with a small smile, he smiled back automatically, seeing his shy sister, trying her best, when his eyes fell onto his mother. Her face was cold, her body unmoving as she stared him down from her higher position. She hadn't changed a bit. What had Jinyoung expected after four years?

Like a natural reaction to the woman, who had given birth to him, he stiffened in his sister's arms, his body preparing itself to take the weight, she would surely put on his mind, carrying it through anything coming from here on. Instead of hitting him with a venomous remark or laughing at his casual outfit, a hoodie and light jeans, she kept on staring. Her gaze was heavy with meaning, but it felt like a crossword puzzle to Jinyoung. One where there was no right answer at all.

She let out a breath through her nose, before she just turned around and disappeared inside the house. His other sister Boyoung used their mother's absence to hurry down the stairs, joining her other two siblings, joining them, turning it into a group hug. She buried her face between Jinyoung's shoulder and Sooyoung's head, taking a deep breath: "I missed this."

Unlike any of his expectations, Jinyoung felt a lump growing in his throat, making breathing difficult, his eyes starting to burn. He relaxed again, giving them both a moment, before he let go, stepping back. He wanted to say something, when a dark figure stepped into the still open door, clearing their throat: "Miss Sooyoung, the madam is calling for you. All three of you."

The night had started to get darker by now, making it slightly difficult to make out the steps of the stairs. His sisters, who were used to the familiar steps, hurried up, not looking, if he followed. Jinyoung wanted to go after them, when he missed one of the steps, making him flail his arms in a try to not fall backwards and split his head on the stone steps. Sooyoung had reached the last step just turning around, when her eyes widened in pure shock, catching Jinyoung in the dim lights of the porch.

He was falling. Only for a moment though as a hand shot out in front of him, where he could have sworn no one had stood only a second ago, and grabbed his arm with their strong grip. The arm belonged to a person, who was studying him with concern? It was hard to tell in the dark, but he was close enough for Jinyoung to see two small eyes, intently staring into his eyes. Jinyoung was still in shock, when the strong arms steadied him, helping him back onto his own feet. The other man was stepping back right away to get some distance between them. He gave Jinyoung a nod, waiting.

Jinyoung swallowed, before he bowed deeply: "Thank you for...catching me." He was trying to find his composure at any cost. Good thing, Sooyoung called out to him in that moment, asking if he was okay and not hurt. He looked back at her, leaving the man behind after another short nodded thank you and followed his sisters. At the top of the stairs, he took a short glance over his shoulder, but the man was gone.

His heart may have been pounding, but he had just nearly fallen to his death, so it was only natural. He was lucky, one of the servants had caught him just in time. A person, he had never seen before, he realized. How many of the employees had changed over the years? A slight fear crawled into his mind as he walked through the halls trying to get comfortable with his surroundings. At least the house hadn't changed from inside. He could still remember every detail, ghosting behind his eyelids, when he closed them.

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"I am not surprised, that you are back, but it is good to see, that you still keep your word, this will be a needed asset for the future head of the Park house." His mother was as always direct with her words, honest to the point it made one flinch, but Jinyoung was already too used to it to care. Even after four years of self chosen exile, he felt his old feelings, habits and surroundings seep into him as if he was never gone.

His mother sighed once, before nodding her head at Jisoo, her secretary: "Since you will not be just busy, but the core of attention from now on, I saw the need to pull up our security measures. From today onwards, we will work together with TuanTech to secure your position and well-being. Welcome Tuan-sshi, who is here as the representative of his family's company and will be the head of security of everything regarding the Park house."

Jinyoung stood up as four men entered the wide living room coming to a halt in front of his family. The one leading them bowed deeply, greeting them: "Good evening and especially to Park Jinyoung-sshi. Congratulations on becoming the new head of the family. My name is Mark Tuan, I am from the Tuan family in the States." Jinyoung reached out his hand to greet the young man, who looked younger than himself.

Mark gave him a curious look, before he waved one of the men behind him forward. Jinyoung watched as a timid looking boy stepped forward, a laptop clutched under his arms. He smiled sheepishly at Jinyoung, before starting to explain: "Hello, I am Choi Youngjae and Mark-hyung's assistant and network supervisor. I can inform you, that the newly arrived locks, fingerprint scanners and security personnel are all ready to run. We have taken all precautions necessary to assure you are safe in every way."

Jinyoung was flabbergasted. He didn't truly know, what he had expected, when the taxi dropped him off in front of this house. It all felt too unreal, his mind racing at all the new information and details regarding HIS new life from now on. Was he about to hyperventilate? No way would he show such weakness in front of his mother or these new people taking over his life. He took a deep breath, his business-smile ready to shine.

"Thank you for elaborating, Youngjae-sshi. I am happy, that my safety is in good hands. As you all may know, I have just arrived back...home. Therefore I would like to rest for the remainder of the night. Please excuse me." He was ready to get up, when his mother stopped him with a single sentence: "There is another thing for you to know." Jinyoung turned towards her, body tense: "Excuse me?" His mother nodded at Mark, who stepped forward again, beckoning one of the other two men behind him to follow.

His face showed a genuine smile: "Exactly. As we want to assure your safety at all times, I have decided to assign our best skilled man to function as your bodyguard or shield as we call it. Let me introduce to you: Lim Jaebeom." Jinyoung's gaze fell on the strange, yet familiar man in front of him. Where...? The steps. It might have been dark and only for a moment, but he recognized the eyes right away. Small and intense like a cat. Jinyoung stood up, still staring at the man as he replied: "My what? A bodyguard? Excuse me, Mark-sshi, but I don't think this will be necessary. I am well capable of taking care of myself."

Had Jinyoung not seen the movement, he would have missed the low huff of air as Jaebeom lowered his eyes. Had he just snorted at him? This bas- "Excuse my rudeness, but that is not possible. I assured your mother, that you will be safe 24/7 and that's not possible without an escort of someone I truly trust. I could of course assign one of my teams to follow you, four men should be-"

Jinyoung bowed deeply, his voice fast: "No need to go out of your way for my selfish wishes. It's fine". He hesitated, his eyes finding Jaebeom, who didn't mind him at all, watching the wall intensely. Jinyoung swallowed his pride, clenching his teeth: "I accept him, your best man, that is. This should be enough then, no?" He got up without another word, heading for the staircase "Now if you will excuse me. I am exhausted."

\---------------------------------------

Two weeks had passed, but it felt like a year to Jinyoung. He had returned to his daily routine from four years ago, like nothing had happened, like he hadn't just left in the middle of the night, his mother watching him from the high window of her study, making him hesitate.

Now it was him, who stared out the same window in the wide study as his 'guests' left.

His study.

People were coming and going, appointments timed with less then fifteen minutes between. Jinyoung felt a shiver, sensing the person coming closer, without turning around: "Jaebeom-sshi, is there something you want to say? You are doing it again."

The man, his shadow, like Jinyoung refered to him mostly in his head, was a peculiar person. He seemed emotionless mostly, but there were moments like these, he was burning with emotions, his eyes the depth of the wide ocean. "Doing what?" It was funny, that this man, stoic and stuck up as he looked, had accepted Jinyoung's offer of taking casually to him, when no one was around, so willingly, not even blinking.

"This thing you do, when you have something to say. Burning a hole into the back of my head. What is it?" Jaebeom didn't stop staring, even as Jinyoung whipped around, staring back, but he spoke up nonetheless. "You seem... unsettled. Is there something I can do, to make you feel less like this?" Jinyoung's ears burned from embarrassment and surprise together. He let out an empty laugh.

"Trust me, Jaebeom: there is nothing anyone can do, to make me feel less 'like this' as you phrased it. I was born to be like this." To suffer, he bitterly thought. Still, it was the first time someone had not just taken it for granted, Jinyoung was like this. Aloof and unreachable to anyone trying to get through to him. The perfect chaebol. What else was there?

"No." Jinyoung's eyes widened, his eyes squinted at the answer: "What is that supposed to mean? It was no question." Jaebeom was so...weird. They must have been stating each other down for more than five minutes by now and he hadn't backed down or moved at all. Was he challenging him? Oh, boy, you have no idea, who you are fighting with.

"You are right, I don't know you, but I am chained to you in this just as you are to me. And I need to assess you as best as possible, if I have to guarantee your safety. No, I don't think you were born to live like this...you look like you hate yourself every single day. Why?" Jinyoung's breathing quickened. He had thought, he could win this, stare him down, push him down and maybe hand out a hard blow with that, so he would think twice the next time, before challenging him ever again.

But Jaebeom seemed to loom through him. If Jinyoung wouldn't know better, he would swear, he had just read his thoughts. His eyes flicked to the side as if Jaebeom had found the festering wound he had kept secret for so long, putting his finger into it, twisting it painfully into his core. He could feel the blood running down, closing his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Leave." His voice was hoarse and thick with anger. Still, Jaebeom didn't move. He kept staring at him with those small, but deep dark eyes of his and maybe that's where Jinyoung snapped. He hit the table loudly with his fist, making the thick oak vibrate, raising his voice nearly to a scream: "Get the fuck out! Now."

Instead of apologizing and running for the door, like Jinyoung was used to by everyone around him, Jaebeom sighed. He freakin sighed as if Jinyoung had just accidentally tripped, shaking his head. He gave a short bow, before he slowly walked to the door. Jinyoung's head was still lowered, his hand throbbing badly, but he didn't care. He didn't move.

After what felt like hours later, he straightened his back, his body aching and utterly tired as he let himself fall into his chair, turning towards the wide window. Night had fallen by then. The stars too far away and too small to lighten up anything in the dark of the night. His eyes stung, when he pressed his palms into their sockets, trying to find his composure, he so seldomly lost.

How could a person, you only knew for a few days crawl under your skin so easily? It was a scary thought. His voice was only a whisper, when Jinyoung talked to the empty study he was trapped in:

"Why? ɪ ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴀ ɴɪᴄᴇ, ᴇᴀsʏ ʟɪғᴇ. ᴡʜᴀᴛ's ᴡʀᴏɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴀᴛ?" He didn't want to live like a wildcat kept in a too small cage. Suffocating with every inhale, but here he was. "Get a hold of yourself, Park. This was always your fate, so suck it up." The thought was cool and numbing, the pain fading into the background.

Maybe one day, everything would be better?

End.


End file.
